Val Ferret Pilot Action Region: Grandes Jorasses Glaciers - An Open-Air Laboratory for the Development of Close-Range Remote Sensing Monitoring Systems

The Val Ferret valley (Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italy) was included as a Pilot Action Region (PAR) of the GreenRisk4Alps project since it is both a famous tourist location and a high-risk area for all types of mass movement processes. Typical natural hazards that endanger this PAR are debris flows and avalanches, sometimes connected to ice collapses from the glaciers of the Mont Blanc massif. Thanks to the steep sides of the valley and widespread alluvial channels, these events can reach the valley floor, where public roads, villages and touristic attractions are located. This article presents the main challenges of natural hazard management in the Val Ferret PAR, as well as the role of forestry and protective forests in the Aosta Valley Autonomous Region. As an example of good practice, the monitoring systems of the Planpincieux and Grandes Jorasses glaciers are presented. Recently, these glaciers have become an open-air laboratory for glacial monitoring techniques. Many close-range surveys have been conducted here, and a permanent network of monitoring systems that measure the surface deformation of the glaciers is currently active

Close-Range Sensing of Alpine Glaciers

Glacial processes can have a strong impact on human activities in terms of hazards and freshwater supply. Therefore, scientific observation is fundamental to understand their current state and possible evolution. To achieve this aim, various monitoring systems have been developed in the last decades to monitor different geophysical and geochemical properties. In this manuscript, we describe examples of close-range monitoring sensors to measure the glacier dynamics: (i) terrestrial interferometric radar, (ii) monoscopic time-lapse camera, (iii) total station, (iv) laser scanner, (v) ground-penetrating radar and (vi) structure form motion. We present the monitoring applications in the Planpincieux and Grandes Jorasses glaciers, which are located in the touristic area of the Italian side of the Mont Blanc massif. In recent years, the Planpincieux-Grandes Jorasses complex has become an open-air research laboratory of glacial monitoring techniques. Many close-range surveys have been conducted in this environment and a permanent network of monitoring systems that measures glacier surface deformation is presently active

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for engineering geology applications

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